


I'm So Sorry

by RdmFavCpls



Category: Ghost Hunt
Genre: Ghost Hunt Prompt, Lin is more talkative, Mai's Mom and Dad, OC, Other, Sort of a back story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-10-22 08:52:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10693620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RdmFavCpls/pseuds/RdmFavCpls
Summary: A look into the final thoughts that Mai’s parents had upon their passing away. Their spirits lingering around her for a little bit before moving on, knowing what happens to those who linger for too long. Be prepared for time skips





	I'm So Sorry

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [ghosthunt_challenge2](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/ghosthunt_challenge2) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> n. the desire to be struck by disaster—to survive a plane crash, to lose everything in a fire, to plunge over a waterfall—which would put a kink in the smooth arc of your life, and forge it into something hardened and flexible and sharp, not just a stiff prefabricated beam that barely covers the gap between one end of your life and the other.

Title: I’m So Sorry

Category: Ghost Hunt

Rating: T

Pairing: None

Summary: A look into the final thoughts that Mai’s parents had upon their passing away. Their spirits lingering around her for a little bit before moving on, knowing what happens to those who linger for too long. Be prepared for time skips

Author’s Note: This is for the Ghost Hunt Prompt Challenge 2: Obscure Emotions. 

Prompt: Lachesism. Noun. The desire to be struck by disaster- to survive a plane crash, to lose everything in a fire, to plunge over a waterfall - which would put a kink in the smooth arch of your life, and forge it into something hardened and flexible and sharp, not just a stiff prefabricated beam that barely covers the gap between one end of your life and other.

Disclaimer: I do not owe Ghost Hunt.

Funny Note: So this is my second story I made for this prompt and the first one didn’t seem like it did the prompt justice so I made another one. One that doesn’t seem like it’s been fully explored before. 

Italics are the last thoughts being spoke to Mai

~~Story Begins~~

There was something within his blood that attached spirits, both good and bad, most commonly bad spirits either or, he could still communicate with them. He has pretty good instincts which he usually listens to, he can tell when someone is innocent or guilty which helped his decision into becoming an officer for cold cases. So he was surprised that on his day off, spending the day with his beautiful three year old daughter, who had a head full of her mother’s brown hair and wide shaped eyes, but she had his brown-red eyes, that his instincts were telling him that going to the park was a bad idea, but he promised his daughter that they would go to the park together on his day off. 

He always thought that death would come in the form of an evil spirit who wouldn’t listen to reason, who wouldn’t be cleanse, but it didn’t. It came from a teenager who was so fed up with their parents, that as soon the teenager saw him with his daughter who was trying to pull her daddy away, her instincts telling her this was a bad park, the teenager started stabbing the man. 

The cries of the man’s daughter, and him trying to yell some sense into the teenager before a hard stab into the chest, right at the heart, his yells turning into gasps. By the time, the police and first responders arrived, he was dead. His daughter crying into his chest, begging for him to wake up, that he promised to play with her, and that the teenager was stunned over what he did. 

Three days later, there was a service held for him, his wife and daughter there surrounding by the the unit he works for. His wife was trying so hard not to cry for their daughter, but their daughter said, “Mama, it’s okay to cry. Daddy understands.”

That night, the man’s spirit went to his family’s house, knowing his wife can sense him being at peace and helped her fall asleep before going to his daughter's room, his transparent hand stroking her young face. 

My beautiful ocean, I am so sorry for everything, not just breaking my promise to play with you at the park but for what your future might hold. I cannot be there to protect you from boys who wish to break your heart, I cannot teach you the wards needed to protect yourself from spiritual beings who wish to bring you harm or how to bind a shikigami. The blood that is within you attracts spirits and demons. I am so sorry for giving you this burden to carry on in life without teaching you anything to defend yourself, but please remember to love everyone, to not care about their nationality. Be proud of being a mixed nationality between the two countries who hate each other. I love you, my precious Mai.

The man’s spirit went into the light, knowing that if he stayed around for too long, he could hurt his daughter and his wife. He knows his wife will protect and raise their child with love and care, he has no regrets. 

~~Three Years Later~~ (6 years old)

Three years after her husband’s death, his wife changed her last name from Zhou to her maiden name Taniyama along with her daughter’s last name. She watched as her daughter grew up beautifully, looking more like her, but her personality, caring and forgiving, nature was more like her father. Their daughter did have her quick bursts of anger moments however. 

She watched as the warm glow slowly faded from Mai’s aura as the years passed, knowing that the power her husband had gave up to protect Mai from the spiritual world was fading. She couldn’t bring herself to teach Mai protective wards or charms, nor could she bear having her daughter grow up in China with her in-laws. Not when her daughter is the one thing that keeps her going throughout all these years. 

The two nights Mai was at friend’s house for a sleepover was torture to her, she kept thinking of death, to be with her husband, to be back in his arms. What saved her was her astral projections with him but what made it worse was her visions from the past. Than one day it happened, a vision from the future that featured a teenage vision of her daughter having fun with her cousins in China who welcomed her with open arms. The vision shifted to her daughter dropping her bag upon reaching the airport talking to a teacher who told her that her mother was found dead. 

That’s when she started planning for the day she dies, to due her part in protecting Mai. 

~~Seven Years Later~~ (13 years old)

A spirit haunted her, tormented her dreams of her daughter choosing to live in China with her cousins, the only family she has left besides her. In a moment of clarity, she wrote a note to her brother-in-law, the one who supported her choice in keeping Mai in Japan. That when Mai turns seventeen, to mail a sapphire necklace to Mai along with the book she for Mai when she’s older about her father, his spiritual powers, and why he was so dearly loved. Than the spiritual wards he used in order to protect himself, which he learned from the most powerful onmyoji family in Japan, his own family. Than about her secrets she held from her daughter including her spiritual powers, and her own wards that were a mixed from ancient Buddhist monks and Miko priests. Than the reason over why she died.

That’s when the spirit took over the weak mental defenses she had and forced her to take her own life. 

When the funeral took place, her spirit had wrapped her arms around Mai in a hug, which she knows her daughter felt. 

I’m sorry Mai, I wish I could watch you dance your life the way you want. I wish to see you bloom into a beautiful lady but alas, I cannot. Please know that while physically and spiritually, I may not be here, but I will always be within your heart, guiding you for the right choice. I cannot protect you as much as your father did, I am not that powerful, but I will give what little of my power I have to protect you. 

The spirit disappeared with the warm glowing light, instantly heading to her husband’s waiting arms so they could watch their daughter grow. 

Mai looked around confused, swearing she just heard her mother’s voice and felt that familiar hug. A tap on her shoulder caused her to look at her favorite uncle, the youngest of her father’s siblings, his brown-reddish eyes looking at her before he pulled her into a hug. That’s when the tears came into place for Mai, holding onto his shirt as she sobbed, the realization that both her parents were gone from her causing her to cry the tears of sadness but mixed in were tears of happiness, that her parents were finally reunited again. 

~~Four Years Later~~ (17 years old)

Mai was sitting at her desk, sketching in a notebook that she keeps in her drawer. It sucks that she had to work on her birthday, she’s gotten birthday wishes from her friends at school and most of her father’s side of the family. She hasn’t received any from her favorite uncle or any from SPR. Naru and Lin just acted like today was another day but she never expected anything fancy from the two men, She worked for them for two years, that’s including the five months they went back to England before coming back to Japan.

During those five months they were gone, she no longer had feelings for Naru and neither did Masako. Her grades had improved when she was gone before summer started. She started to erase one of the lines on the woman’s face. “Mom, I wish I knew how you died. I know and believe deep down that you wouldn’t have committed suicide,” she spoke out loud looking at the drawing she was doing of her mother. 

The door opened and Lin and Naru came back into the office, Lin holding onto a box. Mai looked up and stared at the two men, “I thought you went to look at new apartments?”

“We did,” Naru spoke. “You should know better than to have personal stuff shipped here.”

“Huh?” Mai asked confused. “I don’t have the money to buy anything online, I don’t even have internet at my apartment. How can I have something shipped here?”

Lin put the box on her desk, “This is addressed to you.”

Mai couldn’t look at the label before Naru spoke, “I don’t pay you to doodle worthless drawings or to look at a box. Tea!”

Mai just glared at him and huffed. “I have zero idea over how you can put up with him.”

“Mediation helps a lot,” Lin spoke. Upon coming back, he opened up a bit more, was a little bit more talkative than before and finally accepted Mai as a team member. He still hated the japanese but he can tolerate some of them.

Mai got up to go make some tea, “Would you like some tea?”

“No, thank you.”

When Mai came back, Lin was still in the main office, looking at the box. “Is there something wrong with the box?” she asked. 

“There’s a shiki inside,” Lin responded. 

Mai blinked as she knocked on Naru’s office door. “Like one of those shiki that you have binded?”

“This one already feels like it’s bond to someone, but if you don’t mind,”

“Come in,” Naru interrupted. 

Mai opened the door and nodded at Lin, “I have zero problems over you watching me open it to be on the safe side.”

Mai handed her boss his dearly beloved tea and didn’t even wait for a thank you for three reasons. She knew she would never get a thank you, she has a mysterious box to open, and she left her notebook out that has all of her drawings out in the open on her desk with Lin there. 

She exited Naru’s office and stopped as Lin was looking at the notebook, she walked towards her desk causing Lin to look at her. 

“It’s not finished yet,” Mai spoke getting her scissors out to start cutting the tape on the box. 

“It looks a lot like you,” Lin spoke. 

Mai cut the tape and looked at the label frowning that it was typed up and no return address, “It’s my mom. I keep being told that I look exactly like my mother all expect for my eye color and ninety-percent of my personality, I gained those from my father.” 

She opened up the box and took out a folded up piece of paper and sat it down than a small black box that seems like one would get with jewelry, and a black leathered book that had something laminated within the weathered pages.

Lin looked at Mai, “May I?”

“Go ahead, I can’t afford to pay for any more insurance equipment that gets broken,” Mai spoke. 

Lin picked up the small box and opened it upon seeing a sapphire necklace, a bright light filled the room and the shiki circled around Mai. “It’s tame, it seems like it was bound specifically for you.”

The bright light sat on top on Mai’s shoulder and both Mai and Lin could see the front paws of a wolf before the muzzle was pressing against Mai’s cheek causing her to giggle. “I remember you. You were my first friend”

“You’re first friend was a shiki?” Lin asked. 

“It’s a long story, but he protected me when I was five,” Mai spoke rub his head. “What are you doing here?”

The wolf turned back into the bright light and went back towards the necklace, “The binder is powerful, it takes a lot to bind a shiki into an object for someone else to control,” Lin explained sitting the box down. “Well, since the shiki isn’t dangerous, I’ll be in my office.”

“Okay,” Mai spoke as Lin left leaving her alone in the main office. She picked up the letter and proceeded to read it. 

Dear Mai, my favorite niece,   
If you are reading this letter, than that means I am not there currently. I am truly sorry if that is the case, but there is a reason behind it. I am still fighting the incubus that has been after you since you were ten. Please, don’t worry, I will not leave you alone in the life, your grandmother would not allow it. Not after she put me all through these vigourous training she did when I was younger and wasn’t able to be your legal guardian like I am now. I promise you that before you get off today, I will be there to celebrate your seventeenth birthday. 

Speaking of birthdays, Happy Birthday Mai, the Zhou’s favorite ocean child. You may have already looked at the presents, in fact, if Lin is involved than you most certainly have. While you and this Naru person seemed to growing distant, Lin is certainly warming up to you. He possibly still hates me more than when he hated you, let me guess, he doesn’t know you are a part of the Zhou family yet. Good choice, I most definitely want to be there to see his face when he realizes you are half chinese. 

Anyway, Lin is too serious but the fact that he possibly already looked at the sapphire necklace due to sensing a shiki, you know that your old friend that you named Hau. You have always been fascinated with water another reason as to why the gem is a sapphire. The sapphire necklace is gift from your mother, she wanted it to be given to you for your seventeenth birthday. Hau who is binded to the necklace is my gift to you, he’s been wanting to be your shiki since you two first met. 

The book is handmade by your mother, she wrote down everything about your father, his death, herself and her reasons for doing what she did, and her own death. Please read it from the beginning and take your time, keep the book with you at all times, your mother poured every bit of love into the book and entrusted me to give it to you on your seventeenth birthday. You will be able to tell how much your parents love you.

Happy Birthday Mai,

 

From your favorite guardian and your favorite uncle,   
Zhou Chang.

Mai sat the paper down and grabbed the book, holding it close to her chest as she smiled and walked towards the window to look up at the sky. ‘Thank you Mom,’ she thought with a smile. ‘I will treasure it.’ She went back to her desk and put the necklace on, feeling the warmth radiating off of it from Hau.   
She walked back to her desk and picked up the leather book, flipping through the pages before she came across a double sided laminated picture. One side had the three year old Mai in the hands of her father laughing as her mom stood near by laughing at the silly face her father was making. One the other side was a Zhou family picture which included her mother and herself. 

She put her notebook away and proceeded to read the book, her fingers playing with the corners of the pages. 

Lin came out of his office, the need to have something to drink proving too strong. He walked past Mai who was on her cell phone, a big risk knowing that Naru would get mad. She suddenly got up and went to the window, she gasped as she hung up her phone. She went back to desk and grabbed the book which now held the folded up paper, “Lin, I’m sorry but I have to go.”

She ran out of the office just as Naru yelled for his tea causing Lin to roll his eyes as he walked towards the window. Something got Mai distracted and worried, and Lin was just curious. 

He looked out the window and stared as he saw someone who he considered a rival, who he had training lessons with when he was younger. 

The man brightened up, not even caring that his black hair was matted with knots, or that his brownish-redish eyes weren’t as bright as Lin remember, he was holding onto his right shoulder, blood staining the torn up blue shirt and his hand, while his black pants were ripped. 

Mai ran up to the man and tried to get him to his move his hand so she could see his shoulder only for him to take his non-bloodied hand and rubbed her head, a smile greeting his face. 

“Mai, tea!” Naru yelled coming out of his office. 

“She had to leave work early,” Lin spoke.”He watched as Zhou wrapped his good arm around Mai before they disappeared. 

“She didn’t have permission,” Naru spoke. 

“She didn’t seem like she had time to get permission and knowing you, you would have refused,” Lin spoke. 

Mai walked into the office, the book given to her tightly to her chest, her eyes were red and buffy, a clear sign that she was crying all throughout the night. She got her birthday wish, she now knew that the incubus who was apparently after her due to her father’s blood in her that attracted spirits, and that her mother was in the way. So he drained her mother’s defenses in order to get her and plus in anger for hiding Mai for those years. 

She rubbed her eyes trying to get the evidence of her crying, she carried the book with her to the kitchen in order to start preparing a pot of tea and coffee. She looked at the book and put on a smile. She could never replace her parents or the love that she has for her parents and they have for her. 

“Zhou? What a surprise to see you here,” Lin spoke as Mai heard the office door opening and closing. 

 

She could never replace her parents, but she could love her friends that have become her knew family. She looked over her shoulder as the two chinese men started talking and Naru walked into the kitchen. “What happened?” he asked seeing her eyes. 

Mai giggled, “It’s nothing to worry about. Sorry about leaving work early.”

“It’s not my paycheck,” Naru spoke. “Tea.”

“Being made,” Mai said. 

Naru nodded and walked into his office. Mai looked at the book and stroked the binding of it, Her parents would be happy with her choices and she knows that if she keeps smiling, keeps being who she is, she will be living in the name of her family that she loves so much. 

“Thank you, mom,” Mai spoke softly as the pots started whistling signalling the time to start making the tea and coffee also signalling her time to start work.

As she entered into the main office and seeing her uncle talking to the guardian of the group, she never felt more at home here in Japan since her mom’, no one can beat the home her grandmother makes them feel when visiting in China. This is what she was born to do and she loved it.

 

“So, Lin,” Zhou asked as Mai knocked on Naru’s office door, “What did you get my favorite niece for her birthday?”

“Why would I give your niece a gift?” Lin asked. 

Mai entered Naru’s office just as Zhou pointed at her, “I don’t know. Maybe it’s because you work with her. You do work with Mai don’t you?”

Lin blinked, “Mai is your niece?”

“Yep! My oldest brother’s daughter and I’m also her guardian!” Zhou said proudly. “Pretty sweet huh?” Than he stared at Lin, “You forgot yesterday was Mai’s birthday, didn’t you.”

Mai just shook her head as she left Naru’s office. This is her family, her life, and while she missed her parents everyday, she wouldn’t trade any of it. She could deal without her uncle challenging Lin before he got bored and went into a screaming match with Naru, but she wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Sorry mom and dad, while I miss you so much, I want to be reunited with you two again, I want to stay here with my SPR family and continue helping people. Please don’t hate me for not wanting to join you two right now. I love the both of you so much. 

~~The End~~

I have another version of this story as well so should I upload it or wait?


End file.
